


Do you like ghosts?

by PoeticMilk



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Birthday Present, Ghosts, Hyunjin is a chicken, Kissing, M/M, Ouija Board, Paranormal, Revenge is Sweet, Seungmin is adorably evil, ghost summoning, i guess it’s kinda fluff but also idk, it’s just Hyunjin being all over Seungmin, it’s soft, why is lying always a major element in my stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:33:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25525984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoeticMilk/pseuds/PoeticMilk
Summary: “A Ouija—”“A Ouija board!” His grin was bigger than that of the Cheshire Cat and suddenly Hyunjin just wished that there was a drink that would shrink him to the size of a mouse so he could hide somewhere inside his smelly shoes.Or, Seungmin’s a ghost enthusiast and Hyunjin’s a scared chicken.Birthday Present for my beautiful Cherry ♡
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, kim seungmin/hwang hyunjin
Comments: 11
Kudos: 43





	Do you like ghosts?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!!  
>  This is a birthday one shot dedicated to my wonderful friend [ibookahyun](https://twitter.com/ibookahyun)!!  
>  I love you so much, I’m so glad I’ve met you and that we’ve grown this close in just a short amount of time. Talking to you makes me forget how shitty 2020 actually is, you’re honestly a life saver!  
>  Stay strong, healthy and as beautiful as you are. I hope you’re having a great birthday and I hope you’re enjoying this little present. I had lots of fun writing it. Happy birthday, Cherry ♡ Love you. 

_ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ ᴄʜᴇʀʀʏ ♡_  
  


＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ 𝓓𝓸 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓰𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓽𝓼? ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

_31 October 2019, 7 p.m._

It was a true miracle that they met each other at a place like this, at a cheesy Halloween party where grown people dressed like children ready for trick and treating. Hyunjin would’ve called it a bittersweet destiny if he’d believed in these kinds of things but maybe he did, somewhere, deep down inside of him. Usually, if you wanted to avoid bumping into Hyunjin at all costs, a Halloween party was the first place to go to. You’d never find him at one, neither dressed in a trashy vampire costume, nor with a simple bat headband entangled in his messy hair. But that year, that particular year, he was there. He got dragged into the bar by Minho, someone he called his best friend, and who eventually also turned out to be the only person he knew. The bar was cramped but Minho still managed to detect his friends and course mates at one of the tables, two seats were empty and reserved only for them. Hyunjin was introduced briefly but only three or four of the dozen people at the table greeted them, let alone noticed them. The others were busy arguing about whether Ouija boards actually worked or not and Hyunjin began contemplating all his life choices he’d made that had eventually led him to this very moment in this very place to which he never wanted to come to in the first place. This was all Minho’s fault, he thought to himself, but deep down he knew that the only one at fault was him alone because it had only taken his best friend’s puppy eyes and pouty lips to convince him to accompany him to this trashy party.

He did this for his friend, he’d promised to hold out for just one night.

Suppressing the urge to just turn around and leave, Hyunjin sat down next to his friend who had already jumped into one of the conversations that didn’t have to do with spooky boards that apparently let you talk to ghosts. Hyunjin let his eyes wander about the room, some of the people in the other corner of the bar were louder than those around him, singing Halloween-themed songs while downing shots and brandishing their wands. _Just one night,_ he thought again and sighed, then he observed the people at his table, everyone one by one.

And that’s when he noticed _him._

Though sitting right at the opposite end of the table, he had the loudest voice of them all. With his half-empty glass of beer in his left hand and his right pointer finger up in the air, he was passionately arguing that Ouija boards did in fact work and that he could prove it if anyone agreed to try it out with him. Everyone around him shook their heads, some scoffed and others avoided the boy’s intense stare by hiding their faces behind their glasses. Hyunjin stared back but their gazes didn’t meet, it was like he was invisible to that boy.

“Y’all are just scared, that’s why you don’t wanna try it out. But guess what—you wouldn’t be scared if you didn’t believe in it at least a tiny bit.” He crossed his arms and shrugged. “That proves everything.”

Everyone around him rolled their eyes but they were all smiling in silence, letting the boy win the argument this one time. Hyunjin didn’t agree with him, but he didn’t say a word. He just stared at the boy while the others continued to talk about other spooky things and tell stupid jokes, and he—Hyunjin had heard someone call him _Seungmin_ —had laughed at every single one of them, no matter how stupid or boring they were. He’d laughed with so much passion that everyone at the table seemed enchanted by him. Everyone was looking at him like he was the center of the universe or a magnet that attracted all their attention. Hyunjin couldn’t resist him either. He’d fallen under his spell, maybe even more than the others, and for the whole evening Hyunjin wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off this beautiful, sweet boy. He’d seen every gulp, every drop of beer that Seungmin had missed and that had dropped down onto his grey shirt that had a white cartoon ghost that blew a kiss on it. He’d followed every movement of his lips, had caught every word that managed to escape them. Whenever they drank a toast to Halloween and other stupid things, their glasses never clinked because they sat too far away from each other, but every time Seungmin had smiled at Hyunjin like he suddenly wasn’t invisible anymore, but he was too bewitched to reciprocate it. Seungmin didn’t seem to take it the wrong way. He just continued to sit there and smile.

Minutes and hours passed without Hyunjin saying one single word but nobody really bothered talking to him either. It felt like only Seungmin could see him, even to Minho he’d become a ghost. Hyunjin didn’t care, he was listening to no-one but Seungmin, but after a while his words had become quieter, the beer in his glass less, but his smile had never once faded for just one second. He just looked happy to be there, unlike Hyunjin. 

Seungmin wasn’t dressed up like some of the other people at the table. One of them was wearing a zombie costume with terrifying bright yellow contact lenses (Hyunjin was trying to avoid looking at him at all costs), and there was another one, but Hyunjin wasn’t quite sure whether he was trying to resemble a dollar store Bruce Lee or a crushed bee. Others were either wearing witch hats that were actually made for kids or they rocked spooky make-up (usually blood dripping from the corners of their mouths). One boy had a headband with a smiling pumpkin on his head and while Hyunjin thought it looked utterly stupid, the imagination of Seungmin wearing it fluttered him. But no, besides a little cobweb that was drawn on his cheek with what looked like eyeliner and his ghost t-shirt, Seungmin looked completely normal. Normal meaning that he looked absolutely stunning, if he dared say so. His light brown hair seemed like a soft pillow made of clouds or cotton candy. Hyunjin wished he could take a look at his beautifully long lashes from up close, how he batted them while attentively looking at others speaking. He was different. He looked so innocent yet he was so straightforward. It seemed like he spoke without thinking but just because he was one hundred percent convinced that what he was saying was true. He stood by his opinions, even though he knew very well that people were probably laughing at him.

Hyunjin didn’t laugh at him but every word that came out of Seungmin’s mouth was a big red flag. The whole evening he’d listened to Seungmin vividly explain the different kinds of ghosts and then defend their existence with his whole heart when someone argued that it was all just humbug. He’d seen Seungmin genuinely get sad when someone at the table confessed to not believing in ghosts or anything like that (which was absolutely correct), but Seungmin looked so devastated, acted like someone had just insulted his only child, and Hyunjin had come to a conclusion.

Seungmin loved the paranormal. He was obsessed with everything about it and above all, he _believed_ in all this humbug with as much passion as his little heart could hold. From murderous dolls and exorcisms all the way to demons and spirits. Everything was real to him. And there their story, if anything like that had ever even existed, would come to an end. Because if there was one thing Hyunjin absolutely hated, then it was everything paranormal, especially ghosts. 

But not believing in ghosts (at least that’s what he liked telling himself) didn’t mean that Hyunjin wasn’t scared of them. In fact, it was _his_ heart that pounded loudest when the friend group in a horror movie decided that splitting up was a good idea. It was _he_ who flinched when a shadow suddenly appeared behind the protagonists—or as he’d call them— _the soon to be dead_. And it was surely always _he_ who suffered a mild to slightly severe heart attack whenever his friends thought it was appropriate to prank Hyunjin after the movie—the _suffering_ —was over. Hyunjin’s fear of ghosts had evolved into a stage where receiving ghost chain letters resulted in three weeks without sleep. That’s why he’d started to avoid everything that had to do with ghosts and horror. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a horror movie and the Halloween party he’d been dragged to against his will was his first one in over five years. If there had been a petition to abolish Halloween, Hyunjin would have signed it using his name and ten aliases that he’d make up specifically for this purpose. He just couldn’t grasp how people voluntarily put themselves at risk of suffering a heart attack caused by countless evil jump scares in horror movies, or how they were willing to publicly pee their pants just because they were stupid enough to pay actual money to get into a horror house (not speaking from experience). Why do this when there were harmless romance novels or comedy movies out there? Only thinking about this stupidity let Hyunjin’s blood pressure rise.

Conclusion was that Hyunjin hated ghosts and everything that related to them. He wasn’t sure why he hated them so much, though watching _The Exorcist_ as a 6 year old boy probably played a big role. If he could avoid them—he would. And the only ones who were dumber than those coming up with these stupid horror stories were the ones believing in them.

Yet, somehow, and he couldn’t find an explanation for it, he didn’t find Seungmin stupid. In fact, he was genuinely interested in finding out just how Seungmin had ended up believing in paranormal things with this amount of passion. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was Seungmin’s unusually pretty face that prevented Hyunjin from just getting up and leaving but it _was_ the alcohol and his pretty face _for sure_ that made Hyunjin do what he was about to do later that night. 

“Oh…” The most devastating sigh had left Seungmin’s lips after someone told an allegedly real spooky story that Hyunjin tried really hard not to pay attention to, though he found himself nervously chewing on a cuticle. “I’ve never had a paranormal experience.” 

He was almost talking to himself, no-one had responded to him, but Hyunjin had heard him. It had seemed as though Seungmin’s spell had started to lose its effect on the other people around him but that was not the case for Hyunjin. He was still very much under his spell and a remedy was not in sight. 

Well after midnight, after some of the people at the table had already disappeared to places Hyunjin didn’t know of, he soon noticed that there were only five people left at the table. It was him, Seungmin, and three other strangers that were talking about something unrelated to Halloween, and since Hyunjin had been busy observing Seungmin the whole evening, he wasn’t even mad at his friend who’d left him behind without letting him know where he was going. Hyunjin once again asked himself why he’d had to go to this party with him. 

Seungmin was staring at his glass, head resting on one hand. He seemed tired but content. It was weird but somehow Hyunjin felt utterly attracted to him, as if an invisible rope was pulling him closer. A few seconds later and without having thought about it for just a split second, Hyunjin found himself sitting face to face with Seungmin. His heart was pounding a little quicker than usual, he was proud of having made the first step, but what next? At first, Seungmin also didn’t notice Hyunjin. He seemed a little drunk, his cheeks had taken on a beautiful shade of pink, his eyes looked heavy and from time to time he forgot to close his mouth and Hyunjin could see his lips glistening either from the alcohol or from his own saliva. He was completely zoned out, thoughts probably full with horrendous ghosts and spooky clowns. 

And he looked beautiful.

Hyunjin eventually cleared his throat, trying to catch his attention while simultaneously trying hard to come up with something he could say to start the conversation in a smart but subtle way. The boy opposite to him was suddenly revived, he turned his head into Hyunjin’s direction and smiled with his eyes partially closed. 

“So you’ve finally decided to talk to me, hm?” Seungmin wasn’t looking at him but was playing with his empty glass. Hyunjin’s glass was still quite full, but he knew he wasn’t going to finish it. He’d had enough, another drink would probably make him do things he’d regret later on. He could feel his cheeks burn from Seungmin’s straightforward way of speaking and he stuttered, not sure what or if he should respond. “You’ve been staring at me the whole evening, but you never once said a word to me. Or, well, to anyone, in that matter.”

“I…” Hyunjin gulped. _Because I’ve been thinking about the right words to say._ Should he just go? He thought about getting up, grabbing his jacket and just—

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name earlier. What was it again?”

“Hwang Hyunjin.” There, he finally said something without stuttering. Both of his hands were clutching his own glass, the smell of beer was somehow sickening. “You’re...Seungmin, right?”

A silent nod, a silent smile. “You have a beautiful name.”

He wanted to give back that compliment but he didn’t, though this time he had actually managed to form a little smile on his lips. He felt like he’d just received the most meaningful and kindest compliment in the world.

“Say, Hyunjin.“ There, he finally looked up and he looked directly into Hyunjin’s eyes. He shuddered, there were goosebumps on his arms. He could finally take a look at his eyes from up close, could see how beautifully they were glistening and sparkling. Even though he looked very tired, he seemed so interested in starting a conversation that Hyunjin wondered if Seungmin had been wanting to talk to Hyunjin as much as the other way around. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

There it was, the question he’d feared the most. The simplest answer would’ve been a brief _no_ , but Hyunjin could already see the corners of Seungmin’s mouth drop, could see his expression get filled with disappointment. In the end he would’ve just gotten up and left, just like everyone else. But Hyunjin didn’t want to make Seungmin sad, didn’t want their conversation to end before it could even start. He didn’t want to accept the fact that they both weren’t meant for each other and that they couldn’t work out together, neither as a couple nor as friends. And then there was this spell that he couldn’t get rid of, there were Seungmin’s eyes that were staring at him full of hope.

“So?” Seungmin smiled, he was desperately waiting for an answer. “Yes or no?”

There was a pause, a pause that felt like an eternity to Hyunjin but like a split second to Seungmin. He put on a smile, a fake one at first but it quickly transformed into a real one.

“Yes.” _Huh?_ “Yes, I very much believe in...in ghosts.”

He was doomed. 

“Really? You do?” Suddenly, Seungmin’s sleepiness vanished with a simple wink of his eye, he straightened his back, his curiosity was piqued. 

And just like that, Hyunjin’s shyness was gone and he started talking to poor Seungmin, told him several blatant lies and he regretted not a single one of them. Every little lie that had caused the pretty boy to offer Hyunjin a lovely smile had been worth telling. With every word that had left Hyunjin’s lips, the boy’s eyes had grown wider in excitement and he had moved in closer to the table, closer to Hyunjin, and he was able to smell his perfume. It smelled like summer, like sun cream mixed with tropical fruits, either mango or papaya, maybe both. The scent was confusing, almost disorienting because it didn’t match with the cotton cobwebs and the plastic spiders or the pumpkins with either silly or scary faces carved into them. Hyunjin wondered if he’d done it on purpose, if he’d gone for a perfume with a summer vibe knowing very well it was fall. It would’ve made sense, Hyunjin thought Seungmin to be a person that just lived to confuse others. He had confused Hyunjin throughout the evening, but not once did Hyunjin manage to get his eyes off of him and his beautiful, smiling lips.

After a while, Seungmin just stood up and walked around the table to sit next to Hyunjin. Their thighs rubbed against each other’s and Hyunjin tried to justify the sudden heat he was feeling by saying he’d drunk too much. Seungmin propped his chin on his palm, eyes fixed at Hyunjin while he started to tell him about the paranormal experiences he’d actually never had. He’d told him about them in so much detail that he actually scared himself and he was shocked about his secret talent. _Lying_. He obviously knew that lying to sweet Seungmin was a complete dick-move, also because he actually had no valid reason for lying, but there was a simple excuse that Hyunjin kept repeating in his head to justify his wrongdoings. Because after all, Hyunjin wasn’t going to see Seungmin ever again after the Halloween party, so whatever he told him that night would be forgotten the next day and the one thing remaining was their memory of a beautiful night, right? It was a stupid excuse but sufficient enough for Hyunjin to keep on lying. And he could see how Seungmin enjoyed it. He’d enjoyed every second of it, had listened to every of Hyunjin’s words just like Hyunjin had listened to Seungmin’s before. And suddenly, Minho’s absence seemed like a blessing rather than a curse because if his best friend had been at the table with them, there was no way he would’ve let Hyunjin go through with his stupid, stupid lies.

But no, Seungmin had swallowed every single lie with a smile on his lips. He believed everything Hyunjin told him, even got a little jealous when Hyunjin said that he’d spoken to the ghost of an old friend’s dead aunt once. He had told him that yes, he was right, Ouija did in fact work, he’d seen it with his own two eyes. When Seungmin asked him how it was he told him that it had been such a long time ago that he barely remembered (he simply didn’t know how exactly these things worked). He’d love to try it out again, he said. And when Seungmin asked Hyunjin about his favorite horror movies, he answered with _The Exorcist_ , because it was the only horror movie he could vividly remember watching. _Good choice,_ Seungmin had said, _good choice._ He liked that one as well. And while Seungmin told him the top five of his favorite horror movies, Hyunjin imagined himself being chosen as best rookie actor and accepting his award on a big stage in front of thousands of people.

He thought about his acceptance speech.

_Ladies and gentlemen, dear mother, father. Being here today already feels like a dream, but standing on this stage with this award in my hands sure feels like a miracle. I’ve made a lot of decisions in my life, and while I think that some of them—lots of them, actually—were wrong, they still took part in leading me to where I am today, which is here on this stage. I would like to give a special thanks to Kim Seungmin without whom I wouldn’t have made it. Thank you, please continue to send me love and support._

He blinked, snapped out of this utterly weird but strangely appealing scenario, because he’d felt something on his shoulder. Seungmin had leaned his head against his shoulder and Hyunjin could feel his hair poke his skin. He loved that feeling. A quick glance about the room showed him that the three strangers had left and it was only them. It felt so, so sweet.

“Hyunjin, I’m so glad I met you.” He said, but very quietly. “I feel like you’re the first person who really gets me and doesn’t think I’m crazy.”

“Oh, I do think you’re crazy.” Seungmin’s head shot up, his face suddenly so close to Hyunjin’s and his puppy eyes wide and big. Hyunjin smiled. “I think you’re crazy beautiful.”

He’d never thought he was capable of saying something so cheesy, but somehow it had felt like the right thing to say. Somehow he wanted to give him compliments, stop with the ghost talk and be sweet to him. He’d expected a smile to appear on Seungmin’s face but it didn’t come and Hyunjin feared that he’d fucked it up, that he’d gone too far. Maybe for Seungmin, Hyunjin was only interesting because of his ghost stories while Seungmin was interesting to Hyunjin because he was Seungmin. But then there was a hand on Hyunjin’s cheek that turned his face into Seungmin’s direction and he hoped so badly that the other didn’t notice how hot his face was. Seungmin attempted to move away his hand, but Hyunjin quickly caught it and held it in place. His soft touch felt addictive. 

“That was the cheesiest thing someone has ever said to me.” Seungmin whispered and Hyunjin felt the sudden urge to apologize. “Can you say it again?”

Hyunjin gulped, his voice was quiet and he was blushing, but not as much as Seungmin. “You’re beautiful.”

“I really like that.”

There was a moment of silence that Seungmin used to retrieve his hand from Hyunjin’s face just to place both of them on his shoulders. Hyunjin watched him attentively as he saw the boy draw closer, then even closer until he stopped after both of their noses touched. All Hyunjin could think of was _kiss, kiss, kiss._ He tilted his head slightly, could feel Seungmin’s warm breath on his skin and his pretty lashes nervously fluttered until his eyes were closed. Hyunjin copied him and then there was a sudden taste of beer and the sweet smell of Seungmin’s perfume mixing with it, their lips on each other’s. At the beginning, it was a shy kiss as though it was their first one. Seungmin’s hand squeezed Hyunjin’s shoulders and pulled him closer, their lips matched like a key and it’s lock. The music around them sounded dull, like both of them were underwater, but for once Hyunjin thought that the funky music fitted. It made everything a hundred times better. He leaned more into the kiss, put his hand on Seungmin’s waist. He could feel the other’s persistent smile, it was there even when they kissed and it elicited a smile from Hyunjin as well.

Their lips parted in a sad goodbye but they remained close. Their hands left each other’s body, both smiled and then they giggled like some teenagers, but the whole world was perfect. Suddenly, Hyunjin was thankful for coming to the party. Because if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have met Seungmin, wouldn’t have had the pleasure to see him smile for several hours, and he certainly wouldn’t have been able to kiss him. The awkward smiling continued but none of them felt uncomfortable, they felt just right.

Their conversation went on, slowly, and completely ghost-free this time. They didn’t ask each other about where they saw themselves in five or ten years or if they had siblings or how their relationship with their parents was. They wondered about how some monkeys had red butts, then gossiped about a celebrity drama that neither of them really understood, and lastly, they looked at each other in silence and as though they’d known each other since birth. Their hands were playing with each other’s and they were laughing, Hyunjin felt like he knew everything about Seungmin. He had never felt so comfortable with someone else before. It made him forget about the lies he’d told him, the lies that were the ones he had to say thank you to because thanks to them, an evening like this had been possible. Without them, he’d either still sit in the corner on his own, or he would’ve been on his way home, silently cursing his friend for dragging him to such a dumb party.

“Seungmin!” Someone had returned to the table, it was the zombie-boy and Hyunjin still felt his whole body shudder looking at his contact lenses. “I thought you’d already left. Let’s go home.”

Hyunjin didn’t worry about Seungmin living with someone else. Even though he knew that it was probably just his roommate, there was no ounce of jealousy. Hyunjin just smiled. In the end, it was him who had kissed Seungmin, not zombie-boy. 

“Yeah, we can go.” Seungmin said, smiling. He looked at Hyunjin as he got up from the table. “Do you live far from here?”

Hyunjin shook his head. “No, not really.”

It was a ten minute ride with the bus that probably didn’t come anymore. He could just walk, he felt like walking.

“Do you need someone to go with you?” Seungmin put on his jacket, it absolutely didn’t fit his ensemble but he looked so cute and HyunJin smiled. “Do you wanna call a cab?”

Again, Hyunjin shook his head. “No, really, I’m fine. I’ll be home in a minute.”

Finally, he got up as well and took his jacket, though he didn’t feel like putting it on. It was hot, he felt warm, even though it was super cold outside. They left the bar and then stood face to face.

“I have to go this way.” Hyunjin pointed behind him.

“We’re this way.” Seungmin meant the exact opposite direction.

They looked at each other, zombie-boy was fiddling with a water bottle, and then they said their last goodbyes. There was no asking for phone numbers, no wishes to see each other again. Just a silent hand waving that said enough. They turned around at the same time, and Hyunjin didn’t look back as they parted and he believed that Seungmin didn’t turn around either. It sure was cold, but the cold felt good against Hyunjin’s hot face. That night it had taken him much longer to reach his apartment, but he liked it, and he’d thought about Seungmin and about ghosts and about this weird spell that still lingered with him and he wondered how long it was going to last.

He was never going to see Seungmin again, he wouldn’t have to pretend to like ghosts ever again and he stopped feeling bad about having lied to such a beautiful, sweet person.

  
  
  


_4 January 2020, 9:34 p.m._

His mouth stood open and he hadn’t been able to say one single word in over a minute. One hand was wrapped around the door handle tightly, almost as though he was searching for support, and the other one was busy wiping the sauce from his spicy chicken wings off his fingers on the back of his white shirt. His eyes were fixed at the other person, the shock was huge and there it was again, this incredible smile.

“Hey.” Eventually, it was the other one who broke the silence. “It’s been a while. Sorry for just coming over so suddenly but...can I come in?”

Could he come in? Hyunjin slightly turned his head to eye his apartment. He quickly detected the many empty beer cans he hadn’t yet thrown away, there were dirty clothes spread on the floor and he could smell the fatty chicken wings from where he stood. The air in the apartment was stuffy. He looked back at Seungmin, his eyebrows were elevated, he looked impatient but the smile was still there. God, Hyunjin had forgotten how much he’d missed it.

A little over two months had passed since they had seen each other for the first time. Two months since they had kissed each other on the lips so shyly and then parted ways and lived their lives like nothing had happened. Hyunjin had spent the first few days thinking about Seungmin non-stop. His soft lips—his spell—he’d felt it for days. After one week, these thoughts had become less and eventually Hyunjin had proceeded to only think about Seungmin once or twice a month before completely forgetting about him. The spell was gone without a trace and he’d adjusted to not seeing the sweet boy every again and he’d found a way to live with that reality. He’d found a way to cope with it, was fine with it and after some time, he’d started to feel at ease, had stopped to worry about the lies he’d told Seungmin. It was all in the past and if Hyunjin tried hard enough, their kiss, their sweet-talk, that whole night—he could make it feel as though it had only been a beautiful, innocent dream. 

But Seungmin had come to Hyunjin’s apartment. 

And his scent, his tropical perfume that Hyunjin had already forgotten about had returned and penetrated his nostrils as the boy squeezed his way into the apartment without formal permission and it intoxicate Hyunjin, put him under a spell once again and he suddenly believed that this perfume was no ordinary perfume but Seungmin’s secret magic potion. Did he only use it on Hyunjin or on other people as well? But as much as Hyunjin felt enchanted, he closed the door with a weird feeling creeping up inside of him. He was fearing the reason for Seungmin’s sudden appearance, he was wondering if he’d come because of the lies and suddenly he found himself eagerly trying to fight against Seungmin’s witcheries before they could completely take control of him. 

Seungmin didn’t comment on the mess in the apartment, he didn’t complain about the smell and he certainly didn’t pay attention to Hyunjin’s messy appearance. His body was covered with nothing but a plain shirt stained with chicken wing sauce, simple shorts and one sock. The other one he’d taken off because he’d stepped into something wet and that feeling was almost as disgusting as accidentally touching old leftover food on a plate that had been in the dishwasher for ages. But Seungmin, he looked just as sweet as two months ago, almost indifferent. He was wearing jeans with holes in the knee area and a jacket that was zipped up all the way to the top and he was carrying a huge backpack that made him look like he was about to go climbing. His hands were wrapped around the straps of the backpack as he turned to Hyunjin, he was chewing on his scarlet lips, these lips that Hyunjin had dreamt of so often. 

“How...do you know where I live?” It was the first sentence that had left Hyunjin’s lips after opening the door. There was no _hello_ , no _how are you_ , even though Hyunjin did wonder about how he’d been. Suddenly he wanted to talk about university, about his courses. Were they hard? How was studying going? Where did he see himself in five years? Ten years? 

“Minho told me.” Seungmin said and something felt weird as he spoke those words but Hyunjin wasn’t sure what it was. He was afraid that he’d be confronted about the lies he once told, these terribly, terribly odd lies. “Again, sorry for just barging in.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s alright.” If anything, it was Hyunjin who should have apologized. He was already trying to come up with the perfect apology in his head but it was harder than he’d thought. Why? Simply because there was no right excuse as to why he’d lied. And Seungmin only nodded, then it was silent for a second as though he was waiting for Hyunjin to say something else, but Hyunjin on the other hand was waiting for Seungmin to explain the situation.

“Alright, I’ll come straight to the point.” With his lips moving so prettily, Hyunjin found it hard to focus. _Don’t let them bewitch you, it’s a trap!_ Seungmin then let go of the straps just to fondle with his hands, eyes avoiding Hyunjin’s. How sweet he looked, was he shy? Hyunjin’s heart was pounding a little faster and he was confused, partially excited and partially scared of what was to come. “I came to ask you a favour, actually. You’re the only one I could think of and I think you’d even like it!”

Hyunjin frowned. No lies? And what did he mean by saying that Hyunjin was the only one he could think of? How was that possible? They basically knew nothing about each other and had only spent a few hours together and, well, yeah, kissed once, but they haven’t seen each other in months! How could he possibly think Hyunjin was the best choice for whatever favour he’d come here for? _Unless…?_

“And...what’s that?” Hyunjin was alert, voice quiet and a little shaky. He was afraid that he could step into one of Seungmin’s magical traps.

“Will you just say yes?” Seungmin asked, puppy eyes fixed on Hyunjin now and there it was, there, right in his eyes, he could see it, Seungmin was casting a spell. “Just say yes and promise you’d do it.”

Hyunjin gulped, he hesitated. “I don’t have money.”

“I’m not here for money,” Seungmin rolled his eyes. He looked about the room, then he stepped closer, his fingers shyly wrapping around Hyunjin’s. This simple gesture let Hyunjin go crazy inside, the butterflies came out of hibernation and started to hyperventilate. “Please?”

Hyunjin thought about it for a second, had rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand while the other one was still in Seungmin’s possession. He went through all the pros and cons and while he could think of some cons (and there were quite a few of them), it had already been too late. Seungmin’s spell had started to take effect again and Hyunjin only smelled the sweet perfume, could almost taste it on his lips and he knew he couldn’t fight it. No-one could resist his spell. In his mind, all he could see was the kiss. He felt it on his lips again and was reviving the moment. There could be a second kiss, maybe even more than that and this alone helped Hyunjin make a decision.

“Okay.” Hyunjin said and Seungmin’s face suddenly lit up. “I’ll do it, whatever you want.”

Seungmin squeaked and let go of Hyunjin’s hand before he flung both of his arms around him to pull him into a tight hug. Hyunjin’s eyes were wide, he blinked perplexedly but he wasn’t quick enough to wrap his arms around Seungmin’s thin waist before he already pulled away again. Hyunjin felt sad, he wished he could have hugged him a little longer, tighter. 

“Thank you so much, Hyunjin. I swear, you won’t regret this. It’s going to be so much fun!” Hyunjin somehow managed to smile, though he didn’t know what was about to happen. He’d chosen to trust Seungmin even though he was practically still a stranger. It surely wasn’t the right decision, but what could he do? Suddenly, Seungmin clapped into his hands as though they were about to embark on a long journey. He took off the backpack and walked up to the door to take off his jacket and hung it up. This time he was wearing a purple shirt with the word _Boo!_ on the backside and when he turned around again, Hyunjin started at the sight of the frontside of the shirt as there was a huge scary face printed on it. Great, guess who wasn’t going to sleep that night?

“Do you have shorts maybe? Or sweatpants?” Seungmin turned around and tucked on his jeans. “They’re a little uncomfy.”

Hyunjin nodded quickly and told him to wait for a second. He disappeared into the next room and searched for shorts that still smelled okay. He also found another single sock that he decided to put on while completely ignoring the fact that it had another color than the one he’d already been wearing. He couldn’t care less. He came back into the living room just to find Seungmin chewing on a chicken wing with his jeans already off. _God,_ Seungmin was in his apartment with nothing but boxer shorts and a super scary shirt? He felt his cheeks burn and he quickly gave Seungmin the shorts. His legs were so white and skinny, Hyunjin wanted to tuck them into a blanket. He tried to seem busy and put away at least some of the dirty clothes and empty beer cans but that was just a way to keep him from looking. He couldn’t help but think about how sweet it would’ve been if they’d just sat down and ordered another bucket of wings and ate them together while drinking ice cold beer and watching some stupid reality show that neither of them really understood. He’d wipe away the sauce in the corner of Seungmin’s lips with his thumb, they’d laugh dumbly at each other while the alcohol was kicking in and then they’d sing karaoke to old trot songs until the neighbors would start complaining. They would kiss and dance like an old couple with Seungmin’s head resting on Hyunjin’s shoulder while he was leading the dance, though he didn’t understand a thing about dancing. It would be perfect. Maybe this scenario wouldn’t have been as far fetched if they’d stayed in contact with each other after the Halloween party but then again it would’ve been a friendship—or more—built on lies and instead of them watching a reality show, Hyunjin would have had to sit through hours of horror movies while also having to pretend he was enjoying it. A horrible, horrible thought. 

He turned around again just to see that Seungmin had changed and he thought for a second about offering him another shirt as well but if he did that, Seungmin might get suspicious. He took the remote control to turn down the volume of the TV until it was barely audible and then he sat down on his sofa, offering Seungmin to sit down beside him but instead, he got onto his knees and opened his backpack. Hyunjin was curious about what would happen next.

“Ready?” There was a cunning grin on Seungmin’s lips and Hyunjin suddenly wasn’t so sure about this anymore, but he still nodded.

“Ready.” 

He wasn’t ready.

Next thing that happened was that Seungmin pulled out something that looked like a board game and for one second Hyunjin feared that it was one of these Ouija boards. He calmed down again, but when Seungmin held it up and said _boom_ , Hyunjin’s eyes almost fell out from the sudden terror. It was indeed one of these damned Ouija boards. The grin on Seungmin’s face grew bigger while Hyunjin was trying his best to conceal his shock.

This couldn’t be true. It had to be a joke.

“A Ouija—”

“A _Ouija board!”_ His grin was bigger than that of the Cheshire Cat and suddenly Hyunjin just wished that there was a drink that would shrink him to the size of a mouse so he could hide somewhere inside his smelly shoes. Anywhere was better than here. He knew exactly what Seungmin was about to say and as much as he tried to prepare himself for those words, when Seungmin enunciated them, his heart still skipped one or maybe five beats. “We’re gonna try it out together.”

Hyunjin did not want to try it out together. 

His expression was blank and his brain started working to come up with an excuse. But what could he possibly say? That he’d forgotten that he’d promised to help out his mum…in the middle of the night? And if so, with what? There was no such thing as a plausible excuse and it panicked Hyunjin.

“Hey, you don’t look excited.” The disappointment in Seungmin’s voice was tangible, Hyunjin started panicking even more. “I thought you’d like it since you told me you haven’t done this in quite a while and really wanted to try it out again, remember? At the Halloween party.”

He did remember. He remembered every single lie that he’d told Seungmin, he remembered every smile that he’d earned with it. Was this payback? Or was it karma? Yes, probably karma, bad karma. Hyunjin should’ve known better, should’ve prepared for something like this to happen and now it was either him or Seungmin. He could be honest with him now and tell him that he’d been lying about liking these things and that he actually was incredibly scared of them while also thinking they were stupid and thus risk that Seungmin might hate him—which would ruin his night. Or he could try to go endure it and go along with it for just another night and make Seungmin the happiest person alive while simultaneously dying inside, maybe peeing his pants eventually. And then, when Seungmin would leave his apartment again, he’d say goodbye to him and immediately start packing up his stuff, change his name and move to Mexico because he knew that Seungmin was going to try to get Hyunjin, the ghost expert, to try out other horrible, horrible paranormal rituals. God, what if he had to take part in an exorcism? What if Seungmin suddenly showed up at his apartment with a haunted doll that he’d bought off the dark web? And if Seungmin begged him to go to the new theme park because there was this horror house, the one amongst the top five scariest ones in the world? And what if afterwards he wanted to watch that new horror movie that made people throw up while watching it? What in God’s name was Hyunjin supposed to do then? 

Say yes, obviously. He’d say yes to everything. Why? Because it was Seungmin. And saying no to Seungmin was like refusing a one billion dollar check. A check that had thorns all over it but still, it was worth a whole billion, right? 

He forced a smile. He could physically feel how unnatural and staged it looked but he tried anyways. “You’re right. I haven’t tried this in ages. I’m...so excited. I can barely restrain myself.”

God, stop talking, Hyunjin!

“Awesome! I knew you’d be hyped!” He grabbed Hyunjin’s hand and squeezed it but he feared that Seungmin might’ve noticed how much he was sweating, how cold and hot his hands were because he was slowly starting to hyperventilate. Maybe it was a panic attack, maybe it was a stroke. Seungmin put down the board next to Hyunjin who suddenly felt the urge to move it further away from him, maybe throw it out of his window. “Ah, I’m so excited. I’ve never done this before! You’re an expert, so I’ll follow your lead.”

Oh. Hyunjin laughed nervously. “Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done it as well, so I kind of forgot.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll remember.” Seungmin winked and Hyunjin’s soul left his body.

Then he proceeded to take out a bunch of candles that already looked spooky enough. He said they were to establish the right mood but _obviously_ Hyunjin knew that. He just kept nodding at what Seungmin was saying while simultaneously still trying to come up with an excuse to get out of this situation because slowly it was getting too real. Hyunjin did not want to risk not being able to sleep for the next three to four months. How long would this probably take? Twenty minutes? Half an hour? If he just managed to go through with that, he would be fine, right?

“And when we’re done with the board, we can watch this!” Seungmin pulled out a DVD with a terrifying clown with huge claws on it. “One of my favorites. It’s the original, not the remake. I bet you’ve seen it.”

Oh, even if he hadn’t, he was going to see that stupid clown for the next few weeks in his dreams. Hyunjin shouldn’t have jinxed it. 

“I’m so excited.” Hyunjin tried to sound convincing but he just knew that he was doing a really bad job. Seungmin simply ignored it and got up from the floor.

“Let’s move the table so we’ve got some space.” Hyunjin nodded and stood up, he thought about a way he could trip so he’d break his leg or his arm or both and they’d have to rush to the hospital. But in the end, Seungmin would still insist on trying out the board because after all, a hospital would make for a much cooler atmosphere anyway, right? Hyunjin decided not to break his bones, instead he helped Seungmin move the little table out of the way, then he turned on the lights and said goodbye to the funny TV show that was on. With shaky hands he helped Seungmin arrange the candles in a circle and watched him light them with a fire that had a bloody hockey mask on it and he just wondered if Seungmin was actually okay. “Turn off the lights and let’s start.”

Hyunjin did as he was told and killed the lights in the whole apartment. It would’ve been completely dark if the spooky candles hadn’t been there but they didn’t help with making this less scary. Seungmin took the board and sat down in the middle of the circle, it looked like a sacrifice to Satan, though Hyunjin silently begged for Satan to choose him and not Seungmin. What if he accidentally knocked over one or two of the candles so his apartment would catch fire? But then they’d have to evacuate the whole apartment, Hyunjin would be homeless (which wasn’t the worst consequence, at least Seungmin wouldn’t find him that easily anymore), but what if Seungmin invited him over to his apartment to live there before he’d find something new and then he’d have to watch a horror film every damn night. It seemed impossible to get out of this situation.

Sure, he could just say no to him but at the same time _he couldn’t just say no to him._

Hyunjin hesitantly walked over to the circle of death. If he placed his foot in it, there won’t be a way out. He’d have to do it, he’d have to listen to a ghost tell them things and then watch a horror movie and then never sleep again for the rest of his life.

“Are you okay?” Seungmin looked up to him. He looked so incredibly beautiful in the candle light. His skin looked like the sun, hot and glowing. Why couldn’t they just sit in the circle and stare at each other for three hours straight and then cuddle up in Hyunjin’s bed? Wasn’t that magical enough for him? God, that sounded so good. “Do you...want to tell me something?”

Tell him something? Yes, he wanted to tell him that he’d lied about everything and that he was sorry but then Seungmin would get angry and get up and storm out of the apartment and probably leave behind the damn board and the candles that would then curse Hyunjin and—

“No, nothing.” Hyunjin quickly shook his head. “It’s all good.”

Finally he got into the circle. His knees were a little weak so he quickly sat down. Seungmin reached for the box and opened it. The board looked terrifying, only looking at it felt wrong. But then Seungmin handed it to Hyunjin. “You’re the expert.”

He was the expert. He’d never done this, didn’t know how exactly it worked yet he still took the board and placed it between them. “The expert I am.”

“Shouldn’t the board be placed on our laps?” Seungmin elevated one of his eyebrows.

Hyunjin froze, then he quickly nodded his head. “Sure, sure. I was about to do that.”

He lifted the board and placed it on both of their laps, their knees touched and Hyunjin shuddered. Seungmin was so close again and he would’ve enjoyed it if there wasn’t a board that summoned demons on their laps. There were letters and numbers on it, a big _Yes_ and a big _No_ and a _Goodbye_ at the bottom. It had a moon and a sun in the upper corners and overall it looked completely terrifying—and it was nothing but a simple board. 

Hyunjin tried to calm himself down by saying that this was just like a stupid board game, nothing could happen and for sure there weren’t any ghosts in his apartment. Why? Because they did not exist. Ghosts didn’t exist and Hyunjin didn’t have anything to fear. If he just went through with it as quickly as possible, half of the suffering would already be over. During the horror movie he’d just look away and then everything would be fine. Seungmin would go afterwards and Hyunjin would probably order a pizza or another bucket of chicken wings because he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep anyways. He nodded to himself inwardly, told himself that it was going to be fine and that there was nothing to fear.

“Alright.” Hyunjin said. “Let’s do this then.”

But how? He was staring at the board and it felt like something was missing.

“Don’t we need the planchette?” Seungmin then asked and Hyunjin looked up.

“The planchette?” He watched Seungmin take out a teardrop shaped piece of wood with a hole in it. That did look familiar. “Oh, right, the planchette. Sure, sure.”

There was no way Seungmin didn’t notice that Hyunjin had absolutely no clue but again, Seungmin just smiled and placed the planchette on the board, he placed the fingers of both hands on it and Hyunjin did the same. He tried hard to remember what he’d seen people do with Ouija boards in horror movies but since it had been so long since he’d last seen one, nothing, absolutely nothing came to his mind. 

“Ready?” Seungmin whispered, Hyunjin almost cried. 

Sure, sure he was ready. He was ready for this to be finally over. It could’ve been so beautiful with Seungmin but instead they were here, in the circle of Satan, summoning a ghost. Hyunjin wasn’t enchanted, he was cursed. There was a weak smile on his face, _everything for you, Seungmin, if that makes you happy._ He wondered how far he could go until he’d snap. 

“I sure am.” He said and then looked at the board that was staring at him so eerily in the candle light. How should he do this? He saw Seungmin close his eyes for a second and take a deep breath so he did the same, even though he felt completely stupid. Then what? He was staring at the planchette. “Uhm...hi ghost?”

Seungmin’s eyes shot up. “What’re you doing?”

Oh, _crap._ “I’m just joking, you looked so serious.”

“Because it _is_ serious.” Seungmin looked him dead in the eye. “You do know what could happen if we mess this up? What if an evil entity possesses one of us? What if we’re summoning a bad ghost and it tries to get into the human realm? We could literally die. We have to be serious about this. I thought you’d understand.”

Ah, shit, what should he do? “I know, I know. I do understand you...wait, did you just say _die_?”

“Yeah.” Seungmin nodded. “As long as the planchette doesn’t move in a figure 8 circle or goes from A to Z or 1 to 0 either forward or backward we’re fine. Now, let’s just begin. I’ll start then.”

Die? Die _how?_ Hyunjin was looking at Seungmin in utter terror. He knew that the board was bad news but how the fuck could they die? He was joking, right? Of course that wasn’t true. What could possibly happen? What could possibly happen if the damn board moved in an infinity symbol or spelled the ABC? The planchette won’t be moving anyways, this was just stupid.

But what if…?

Hyunjin looked down as he felt Seungmin move the planchette in a circle. He just went along with it, it was not like he could go back now. Seungmin nodded at Hyunjin and he had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean, but he just nodded back and hoped for the best.

“We’ve come together today to speak with the other side. We have no bad intentions at all, so if anyone is ready to start a conversation with us, please move the planchette to Yes.” Seungmin was cute when he was focused. Hyunjin was staring at him rather than at the oracle, partially because he was so beautiful and partially because Hyunjin was about to pee himself. He should’ve gone to the toilet beforehand. 

They stopped moving the planchette and waited but obviously nothing happened. Hyunjin scoffed inwardly, _he knew it._

“If anyone is with us and willing to talk, please move the planchette to Yes.” Seungmin repeated himself and Hyunjin already wanted to ask him if they should stop because it did seem like no one was around them, but then suddenly something happened.

With big eyes Hyunjin looked at the planchette moving towards the upper left corner—to yes. Was this a joke? Was Seungmin moving it on purpose? He was, right? He looked up at Seungmin who was grinning at him, he seemed so excited. Hyunjin just gulped, this was horrible. 

“Thank you for wanting to talk to us.” Seungmin said. “Are you a good spirit?”

_Hyunjin did not believe in these kinds of things._ He was very sure that Seungmin was pushing the planchette wherever he wanted it to go. Sure, it did feel a little weird, almost as if the planchette was moving on its own and—why did it suddenly move to _no_? They looked at each other, Seungmin’s expression was serious. A bad ghost?

“That’s rare...it’s a bad spirit?” Seungmin looked a little lost, maybe even...scared? “Have you ever talked to a bad spirit, Hyunjin?”

He quickly shook his head. “Only...only good ones.”

“Let’s keep going. We have to think about our questions very carefully.” Seungmin said and looked back at the planchette. Hyunjin just wondered why Seungmin even wanted to talk to a bad ghost. Not that— _not that he believed that there was a ghost around, no,_ but who would ever want to talk to a potentially dangerous spirit? Couldn’t they just ask for another one? Like, sorry bad ghost, but they asked for good vibes only.

“Do you have a message for someone in the room?” Seungmin then asked and after a while, they got the answer yes. “And who is the message for?”

The planchette started moving again, Hyunjin’s heart was pounding aggressively and he didn’t even know why. This was _his_ apartment, what if the ghost had a message for _him_?

_If something like a ghost existed, which was obviously not the case._

“H.” Seungmin said as the planchette stopped on that letter. Their eyes met for a second, Hyunjin knew he was doomed. The next letter was J and with that, the ghost was done speaking. “H and J? Hyun...Jin?”

For _fuck’s_ sake. Hyunjin gulped, of course the ghost was trying to talk to him and not Seungmin. 

“What’s your message for Hyunjin?” 

Uh, Seungmin, maybe Hyunjin didn’t want to know what the ghost had to say? 

Hyunjin’s eyes narrowed, he was too afraid to look at the board. It was almost as though he was watching a horror movie and the jump scare was about to come. You always knew when it was about to happen but in the end it would give you a heart attack anyways. And again, the planchette started moving. Somehow it didn’t feel like anyone was moving it on purpose anymore. Maybe Hyunjin was imagining things? Maybe that happened because he was so nervous and couldn’t think clearly anymore? He couldn’t possibly think that this stupid board game was working, right?

“L.” It was the first letter. Why did it feel like something supernatural was moving the little wooden thing and not Seungmin or Hyunjin? He was sure it was his imagination, it had to be, there was no other explanation for it. His heart was pounding nervously, trying to urge him to stop this already but somehow he was curious. Hyunjin was sure he wasn’t moving the planchette so it either had to be Seungmin or...there really was someone else. Even though Hyunjin was incredibly scared he wanted to know what this “ghost” was trying to tell him. 

The planchette moved again. I. 

He gulped. Something felt off, the beating of his heart got quicker. It felt like a wild animal was freaking out in his rib cage. It was trying to break free. 

“E.” They spoke out the last letter in unity, Seungmin’s voice was bold and fearless while Hyunjin’s was quiet and trembling. Hyunjin felt like he couldn’t breathe suddenly and he felt hot. Was it the heat from the candles? He didn’t know but it wasn’t important because the word that the ghost had spelled was _LIE_. Hyunjin’s mouth stood open. This was impossible.

“Lie…?” Seungmin whispered and then looked up. “Hyunjin! You look like you’ve seen a ghost. What do you think this could mean? Maybe someone lied to you?”

No, no, that was not the case. “I’m...not sure, actually.”

Hyunjin felt weird. Why did this have so much impact on him? It wasn’t even like this thing could actually work, right? It just couldn’t be working. But Hyunjin swore, he swore to Seungmin and to the ghost that they were speaking to that it wasn’t him who was moving the planchette. Was it really Seungmin? But why would Seungmin do that if he so desperately believed in Ouija boards? What if this was a spirit or a ghost? What if it was trying to expose Hyunjin for his wrongdoings? Hyunjin looked at him blankly. He couldn’t tell Seungmin what the ghost really meant, but what if the ghost wanted that? What if it wanted Hyunjin to tell Seungmin about his lies and if he didn’t do it—what would happen then? 

“Ah, give me a second.” Seungmin suddenly said and his hands away from the board to rub his eyes. “I think I’ve got something in my eye.” 

“Really?” Hyunjin looked at him worriedly. “Let me see.”

He took his fingers from the board and leaned over but Seungmin backed away, his eyes suddenly wide and then he started squeaking. “What are you doing?!”

He quickly placed his fingers on the planchette again and looked at Hyunjin in shock. He had no idea what he’d done wrong but he feared for the worst. Was it that Seungmin suddenly did not want Hyunjin to come close to him? 

“How can you take off your fingers when mine are already off! That’s like the first thing you learn about Ouija boards, the planchette can’t be left unattended!” He hissed and Hyunjin’s eyes grew wide. He quickly put his fingers on it again. 

“Sorry I—I just, uhm, I wanted to help,” he said but the look on Seungmin’s face was freaking him out. It was as though he’d helped the ghost to break free or something. “It was just for like two seconds, we’re all good, we’re all good.”

Right?

Suddenly, the planchette started moving without them having asked a question. Hyunjin was staring at it curiously, Seungmin did the same. They were waiting for the ghost to stop on a letter, maybe it wanted to tell them something else, but after a while the ghost still hadn’t decided on what to say. Instead, Hyunjin noticed what was happening.

“Eight.” He whispered, then his voice got louder. “Oh God, it’s making a figure 8 circle! Seungmin!”

Holy shit! What was going to happen now? Will the ghost or the demon or the spirit or whatever now get into the human realm? Will it kill them? Will it wait until tomorrow and then make it seem as though Hyunjin died in an accident because he’d lied to Seungmin but refused to admit to it? Was it all Hyunjin’s fault because he took his hands off the planchette while you weren’t supposed to do that? Someone make it stop!

“Quick, we have to stop this! We have to close the board!” Seungmin seemed panicked and he looked at Hyunjin urgently. “What’re you waiting for?!”

“Ah, I don’t know, I don’t know, Seungmin! I have no idea how this works, please make it stop, please!” Hyunjin took his hands off the planchette and covered his eyes, he couldn’t take it anymore. He acknowledged that he’d pissed off the entity that was here and he was sorry, so sorry, but he didn’t want to die. He wanted this to be over and he wanted to watch a Disney movie to calm himself down. He didn’t want to see anything relating to ghosts anymore. He was done! His breathing was heavy and his heart was pounding against his chest so fast that he feared it would skip a beat or two, maybe all of them.

Then he heard a giggle.

Slowly, Hyunjin took away his hands from his face and indeed, the cute boy was giggling at Hyunjin. What the hell? Hyunjin didn’t know what was going on at first, didn’t know what was so funny but then it clicked. They had Seungmin. The ghost had taken possession of Seungmin. Oh God. _Oh God_ , he was gone. His soul was eaten up by a mean demon and if Hyunjin didn’t do anything about it, he would be gone forever. But what should he do? What if he was dangerous and was looking for blood to spill? Hyunjin’s heart was pounding like crazy, his hands were shaking as he lifted them slightly.

“Seungmin?” He whispered. “Oh God, oh God. Please don’t let this be true!”

Seungmin’s eyes rolled up, his whole body started shaking violently and Hyunjin began to scream. He didn’t know what to do, how to help Seungmin—if he could be helped. He placed his hands on Seungmin’s shoulders and shook them with all his might, trying to bring him back.

“Don’t leave me Seungmin, please.” He was close to tearing up. “I’m so sorry, I lied to you. I hate ghosts, I hate them so much and I’m so scared. I—I don’t know what to do, please don’t die, please!”

Hyunjin kept shaking Seungmin, trying to get rid of the ghost. He had squeezed his eyes shut with force, eyelashes twitching violently. If he opened them now, what would he see? A possessed Seungmin? A ghost? He didn’t want to open his eyes ever again. His quivering lips acted like an avalanche that first let his arms tremble, then both of his hands that were still holding Seungmin and it reached all the way down to his toes until his whole body was shaking. There was a sudden heat and it felt like it was burning him alive and Hyunjin deserved it because it was his fault that Seungmin had ended up like this. If he hadn’t lied to him in the first place, it would’ve never come to this. Now this bad ghost would kill Hyunjin first and then Seungmin and then would go on killing other people because Hyunjin had let him into the human world.

But then Seungmin stopped shaking. There was a sweet laugh. “Goodbye.”

Hyunjin opened one of his eyes slightly, just to see how Seungmin moved the planchette to the bottom where it said _goodbye_. Then he moved away Hyunjin’s hands and looked at him. A smile was on his face and then he started laughing like he’d heard the funniest joke ever. Hyunjin didn’t understand anything anymore.

“What…” He looked at Seungmin in confusion.

“I—Your, your face—“ Seungmin kept laughing and Hyunjin wanted to punch him. Slightly, so he wouldn’t feel much, but still punch him. He clearly wasn’t possessed and if he was, then it was a clown ghost that wasn’t funny at all. “Oh, Jesus, you’re trembling!”

Seungmin tried to calm himself down when he saw that Hyunjin’s hands were shaking. He put away the board and took Hyunjin’s hand into his own, a few giggles escaped his mouth here and there. “I’m fine, I’m not possessed. You can calm down.”

What?

“Seungmin?” Hyunjin managed to speak. “What’s going on?”

“Revenge.” Suddenly, the smile on Seungmin’s face disappeared. Then it returned again and it was the brightest smile that he’d ever seen. “Boo!”

Hyunjin startled, then Seungmin smiled at him. “Wait, revenge? Did you know I had lied to you?”

Seungmin nodded. “Yup. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out? I mean, come on, did you forget that Minho and I are in the same course?”

Hyunjin was shocked. He didn’t know what to say but most of all he felt horrible. Seungmin had known all along and Hyunjin had embarrassed himself the whole time.

“I really loved the evening. I loved...the kiss. I couldn’t stop thinking about you so I ended up asking Minho for your number. I thought we could watch the new It movie since I haven’t seen it yet but Minho started laughing hysterically when I told him you said that you liked ghosts.”

Seungmin looked a little sad now and it broke Hyunjin’s heart. He felt horrible. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t think. For the whole evening, all I could see was you. Almost like...like I was under a spell. I found you so fascinating that I tried to impress you by telling you all these ghost stories but they were lies, all of them were stupid lies. I didn’t think about the consequences. I’m really sorry.”

Hyunjin let down his head but he could feel two warm hands on his cheeks that lifted his head up again. Seungmin was smiling at him. How could he still be smiling at him?

“It’s okay, Hyunjin.” Seungmin said. “I did feel a little hurt but...in the end I got my revenge, right?”

There was silence for a second. “So...this whole thing here was planned and completely fake?”

“Yup.” Seungmin nodded. “I was trying to come up with a way to get back at you so I told Minho not to say anything. I was thinking for a long time how to handle this situation so I eventually thought I’d give you what you apparently loved the most: A ghost experience.”

“You’re unbelievable.” Hyunjin mumbled but he smiled. “Again, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you and there’s literally no excuse for what I did. I’m sorry.”

“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Seungmin said. “I’m impressed at how far you were willing to go. You literally seemed like you were about to pee your pants, it was definitely worth it.”

He giggled and moved away some of the candles so he could lean against the sofa. Seungmin was really something different.

“And for a second I really thought this thing was moving by itself.” Hyunjin murmured and sat down next to the other. He was playing with his hands, still feeling a little guilty. 

“Well, it kind of did that. It’s called the _ideomotor effect_ and it’s basically you talking to your inner self. It wasn’t me who moved the planchette either, you know?” Seungmin turned his head to Hyunjin and smiled again. Somehow, and it was the first time that Hyunjin felt like that, he didn’t believe that what Seungmin said was stupid. Maybe he was right. Maybe there was no ghost, just Hyunjin’s subconscious mind that was trying to tell him something. I was trying to urge Hyunjin to do the right thing. 

They were watching the candles in silence as Hyunjin was trying to sort his thoughts. He didn’t have to believe in ghosts but he also couldn’t tell others that they shouldn’t either. If Seungmin wanted to believe in them, he should. It didn’t change the fact that Hyunjin found them scary but at least he was trying to be understanding. And then he smiled and suddenly this horrible evening actually seemed pretty good.

“So you couldn’t stop thinking about me?” Hyunjin then said. For the first time it was him who broke the silence. He looked at Seungmin and if the warm candle light didn’t fool him, it seemed as though the other boy was turning a little red. He nodded silently, suddenly he’d become shy.

“I didn’t just like talking to you because you said you liked ghosts.” He said. “The way you looked at me that day, it felt different. Almost as though there was a connection between us. Even though you must’ve thought that everything I was saying that evening was stupid, I never once got a wry look from you. You sat there and listened, you didn’t judge me. I’m usually an outgoing person but as much as I tried to find a way to speak to you, I just didn’t know how. I was so happy when you sat down opposite me.”

“I thought you just thought I was weird.” Hyunjin retorted, still playing with his hands.

“Oh, I think you’re weird.” Seungmin said but smiled. “But I like weird people.”

Hyunjin turned his head in Seungmin’s direction. His smile was so sincere, Hyunjin smiled back. He felt so comfortable with Seungmin even though he still basically knew nothing about him besides the fact that he liked ghosts and taking revenge. He felt so comfortable that it was almost surreal. They were different, so different, but maybe that was what made them so compatible.

“I like you too.”

Hyunjin’s voice was nothing but a mere whisper as he moved his head closer to Seungmin’s. He could finally get rid of the distance between them and connect their lips like that last time. It felt different today. It felt real. Their kiss wasn’t full of lies this time, it was full of purity. It was a kiss like no other. It was weird and special, just like the two. When their lips parted again, Seungmin stayed close and grinned at Hyunjin.

“You really shouldn’t have taken your hands off the planchette, though. That really is a bad thing to do.” 

“And you really don’t want me to sleep tonight, huh?” Hyunjin said but then both of them giggled. He lifted the other’s head by his chin and pressed their lips together again. He could feel Seungmin’s hand on his chest. He could feel how he slowly became addicted to Seungmin’s lips and it made him smile, it was perfect. He couldn’t wait to get addicted to them, feel them on his own every day. Now he didn’t have to fear anything anymore and could be the ghost-hating chicken he was and Seungmin had no problem with that. And Hyunjin even accepted the horrible t-shirt Seungmin was wearing. After all, that was exactly Seungmin’s style.

They opened their eyes and smiled at each other dumbly. It was just like Hyunjin had imagined it.

“So, are we watching the movie now?” Seungmin giggled.

“How about One Hundred and One Dalmatians and another bucket of chicken wings? Cruella is super scary so it’s basically a horror movie. Deal?”

Seungmin laughed. “Deal.”

Love you Cherry!♥ 

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, that was it!! Hope y’all enjoyed this little One Shot!  
> We’ll see each other real soon ^^ 
> 
> I’ll be posting spoilers for my new story on my Twitter very soon so make sure to follow for updates!  
> Follow here! [OhPoeticMilk](https://twitter.com/OhPoeticMilk)
> 
> Got questions?  
> Ask me on CC! [OhPoeticMilk](https://curiouscat.me/OhPoeticMilk)
> 
> Love you all, stay safe!  
> Your PoeticMilk!


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